Tim Cook: Our Objective With Apple Watch Is to Change the Way People Live Their Lives

[Nausicaa]

I think Tim is overselling it, quite a bit. The iPhone changed the way people live their lives - this watch might change the way some people use their iPhones.

I think screen size will be the big obstacle, especially when every trend in the mobile phone industry is towards larger screens. The amount of data that can be displayed is inherently limited, and it remains to be seen how useful "bite sized" data on your watch will be.

 

[foobarbazqux]

Sorry, Apple. Not this time. Smart watches are a waste of money.

 

[Rogifan]

The watch will store music? I haven't heard about that. You might have to provide a link. From what I've seen it'll be a closed unit with no headphone port. Syncing contacts and calendars is great, equal functionality to the 2003 iPod there. Once you're untethered it then acts like one of those (much cheaper) fitness bands.

Yes the Watch has local storage. I wouldn't be surprised if we get new Bluetooth headphones from Apple. Maybe when the Watch launches.

 

[Elvergun]

So you've used Watch?

No. Have you?

I'm not sure how else you'd know what it's battery life is like.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1840285/

I'm not sure how the guy who wrote this article knows what the battery life is like, yet he was bold enough to post it a few days ago. Some of the rumors they post in this site turn out to be false, but some are actually true. I guess we will just have to wait and see? In the mean time, what, we should not discuss the Apple Watch or the possibility that the battery could last only 19 hours (or less)?

And yeah, something that has a low res black and white display will probably have longer battery life than a retina color display. Somehow I doubt if Watch had a low res B&W screen people here would be cheering.

Many of the existing smart watches (Samsung, Motorola, LG) have nice displays and they can last more than a day between charges.

And where can I buy this Kairos smart watch? I wasn't aware it was available for sale.

It is supposed to be released soon. We can't discuss that watch either because it is not available for sale yet?

 

[Northgrove]

Will definitely be interesting to see how this one will sell.

 

[zoozx]

Forget this watch thingy, it will bomb.

Get that dang Apple TV out all ready.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Oh - and here is why some people might be itching for a smart watch

http://www.engadget.com/2015/02/08/schools-ban-watches-from-exams/

Heh. Some things never change. My high school "smart watch":

But, honestly, the Apple Watch will be a dud to the cheating community since it relies on the iPhone and those are already banned in most classrooms. Of course with the state of education today a smartwatch isn't going to help much anyway.

 

[chitoac]

Right. Let's just kill ourselves right now.

Puuuuhhhhhlllllleeeeeeze.

Can't wait to see the first batch of hyper dorks trying to watch a movie or surf the web on the puny watch screen. Free comedy.

lol you cant surf the web or watch movies.. at least take 5 minutes to see what it can do ..

 

[Chupa Chupa]

No. Have you?

So how can you honestly comment on its functionality if you haven't used it? Apple hasn't announced battery life only that it will need to be charged daily. Not enough info to make a reasonable conclusion about usefulness, wouldn't you say?

 

[doelcm82]

Once you're untethered it then acts like one of those (much cheaper) fitness bands.

That's part of the appeal for me. I never considered buying one of those cheap fitness bands, because I know I won't wear it all the time. The convenience of the Apple Watch glances and apps when it is tethered (which will be most of the time) will keep it on my wrist, and the ability to function as a fitness band when I don't have the iPhone on me will mean more complete tracking of my activity.

 

[chitoac]

Well, we do know that Apple stated that it should last around 19 hours...and 19 hours is the worst battery time for a smart watch (based on reviews I've read).

mac rumors its no apple lol!!, 19 its just a rumor maybe a true one but not something apple say.

 

[iLunar]

I'm really surprised by the reaction to the Apple Watch amongst apple-goers. Sure, it's a limited device, but it's also a version 1 device. It's a new product category that has so many possibilities. Apple watch + 5 years of real world R&D is going to be an amazing product.

The Apple Watch won't be for everyone right away. Most Apple products aren't. The iPod started as being exclusive to Macs. In 2001, that user base was significantly smaller than today. It was an expensive product for a niche market that Apple iterated over a few development cycles to become a smashing success.

The iPhone in 2007 was limited on a lot of features we take for granted today. The original iPhone didn't even have the iTunes music store on it! You had to connect it to iTunes via USB/30-pin connector to get your music on it.

Sure, the Apple Watch is companion device NOW, but it won't always be. I think Apple knows a lot of people won't be interested in Apple Watch v1. They are bringing to market a device for the Apple ecosystem and existing users, and will release iterative versions down the road. I have no doubt in my mind a stand-alone, GPS enabled, 4-day battery watch is on Apple's roadmap.

But they have to start somewhere, and IMO, this is a good place. Having an install base of 75 million iPhones 6s (just this past quarter) is an impressive place to market this device. If they sell to even 2-3% of that install base, you're looking at 2-3 million for a v1 product that then gets stats on usage, feedback, app development, etc that can then be implemented in further devices.

I understand people not caring for the Apple Watch at the moment. It's probably not designed for you...yet.

 

[Elvergun]

I never argued in favour of the battery time and I never made any of these statements.

It seems you are arguing in favor of the 19 hour battery time here:

The point I'm making is that from a usage perspective a 19 hour battery life is not much better than a 29 hour life.



The points you are making are ridiculous. It seems that you fail in reading comprehension...of the stuff you wrote yourself.

Ten extra hours is not much better? I bet that if the Apple Watch was able to last 10 more hours than any of the Android competition you would be celebrating yet another Apple victory. But since the Apple Watch is supposed to have one of the worst battery times (according to rumor), it turns out be actually be a good thing. Yeah, who needs 10 extra hours of battery time.

 

[Pagemakers]

I anticipate it being the product with the highest return rate ever for Apple.

 

[peterdevries]

It seems you are arguing in favor of the 19 hour battery time here:

The point I'm making is that from a usage perspective a 19 hour battery life is not much better than a 29 hour life.

How is that arguing in favour of 19hr battery time? It is a totally different statement.

What I'm saying is that from a USAGE perspective 19 or 29 hours does not make a big difference. You still need to charge overnight during the first night because if you don't your watch will be empty mid-day the next day and you need to take it off to charge. That is the point.

It basically means that improvements in battery life need to happen in big steps of at least 24 hrs to be actually useful to the user. Of course this depends on the usage pattern, but if the baseline battery drain is indeed 19 hrs, then 29 hrs will not add much looking from a USAGE perspective.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

I think Tim is overselling it, quite a bit. The iPhone changed the way people live their lives - this watch might change the way some people use their iPhones.

I determine how I live my life. Gadgets help make daily tasks easier, more efficient. The Apple Watch could do that once again. If the Watch makes the iPhone easier to manage then by definition it makes one more efficient. That's not even considering the kinds of tasks the Watch can do via sensors that is impossible for the iPhone to do because of it's nature as something that lives in a pocket.

----------

It seems you are arguing in favor of the 19 hour battery time here:

The point I'm making is that from a usage perspective a 19 hour battery life is not much better than a 29 hour life.



The points you are making are ridiculous. It seems that you fail in reading comprehension...of the stuff you wrote yourself.

Ten extra hours is not much better? I bet that if the Apple Watch was able to last 10 more hours than any of the Android competition you would be celebrating yet another Apple victory. But since the Apple Watch is supposed to have one of the worst battery times (according to rumor), it turns out be actually be a good thing. Yeah, who needs 10 extra hours of battery time.

Yes, it's better but marginally and only because 29 is a bigger # than 19. The day is 24 hours. An average person sleeps for 6-8 of those. That means a 14-16 hour battery life is the minimum life needed to be practical. So the rumored 19hr life is more than enough for one daily charge. But if its 29 hours great, but it still has to be charged daily. So from a practical perspective 29 hours isn't much better than 19. If it was a 50 hour battery then there would be a meaningful difference.

 

[Alumeenium]

waiting to see all the scratched up MacBook wrist rests after a few minutes of iWatch roll out

 

[HenryDJP]

I would argue that the first iPod worth getting was the third or fourth generation. Until then, they were expensive and too proprietary to be worthwhile.

I would argue about the correctness of your information.....because it's far from correct.

The first iPod was worth getting because all other manufacturers had crap machines due to their complicated and tiny UI and they couldn't' hold a fraction of the music the iPod could. Also there was nothing proprietary about the original iPod. While it's true for the first several months to a year it was Mac only but after that Apple opened it up to Windows machines and there was no iTunes store so you could get your music from anywhere and install it on the iPod. You can still do that today.

If you're referring to proprietary in the different formats it could play, well it was an "MP3" player.

 

[IJ Reilly]

Funny thing is, if you look at this thread almost 14 years ago

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/apples-new-thing-ipod.500/

It's almost the same with todays comment for the apple watch.

While we are strolling down memory lane, setting the Wayback Machine to 2010...

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/863405/

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/856880/

 

[HenryDJP]

Heh. Some things never change. My high school "smart watch":

Image

But, honestly, the Apple Watch will be a dud to the cheating community since it relies on the iPhone and those are already banned in most classrooms. Of course with the state of education today a smartwatch isn't going to help much anyway.

Whoa, that's a classic from the old days. When did you graduate, class of 1950? :
Couldn't resist. Don't take that seriously.....although if I'm even close please say so.

 

[cocky jeremy]

Ummm... no thanks, Tim.

 

[HenryDJP]

I think Tim is overselling it, quite a bit. The iPhone changed the way people live their lives - this watch might change the way some people use their iPhones.

Actually before the iPhone....before anybody aside from rich men and the president had a mobile phone, people were getting along with their lives perfectly. People got through college perfectly with pen and paper and used no form of computers for anything.

Fast forward today tech has changed the lives of all who use it in a very big way. To say that Tim is "overselling it", you're ignoring what tech has done for people thus far. Or are you one of the "kids" that grew up with tech and will never understand what it was like to get through life perfectly without them?

To you the Apple Watch seems like a novelty but once it reaches the masses I'll bet most people will look back and wonder how they got along without one.

Just so you'll know, I won't be getting one. I don't care for to wear trinkets but I have a very nice, capable and waterproof G-Shock that does all I need in a watch.

 

[0098386]

Actually before the iPhone....before anybody aside from rich men and the president had a mobile phone, people were getting along with their lives perfectly. People got through college perfectly with pen and paper and used no form of computers for anything.

Got a lol from "rich men and the president". The tone of the lol will shift if you were serious about that. Mobile phones were common in the UK since the late 90's!

I've got a GShock too. Wonderful watch. Also got a Pebble which has its uses in the right situation, but that does enough for me.

 

[Narcaz]

I'm really surprised by the reaction to the Apple Watch amongst apple-goers. Sure, it's a limited device, but it's also a version 1 device. It's a new product category that has so many possibilities. Apple watch + 5 years of real world R&D is going to be an amazing product.

The Apple Watch won't be for everyone right away. Most Apple products aren't. The iPod started as being exclusive to Macs. In 2001, that user base was significantly smaller than today. It was an expensive product for a niche market that Apple iterated over a few development cycles to become a smashing success.

The iPhone in 2007 was limited on a lot of features we take for granted today. The original iPhone didn't even have the iTunes music store on it! You had to connect it to iTunes via USB/30-pin connector to get your music on it.

Sure, the Apple Watch is companion device NOW, but it won't always be. I think Apple knows a lot of people won't be interested in Apple Watch v1. They are bringing to market a device for the Apple ecosystem and existing users, and will release iterative versions down the road. I have no doubt in my mind a stand-alone, GPS enabled, 4-day battery watch is on Apple's roadmap.

But they have to start somewhere, and IMO, this is a good place. Having an install base of 75 million iPhones 6s (just this past quarter) is an impressive place to market this device. If they sell to even 2-3% of that install base, you're looking at 2-3 million for a v1 product that then gets stats on usage, feedback, app development, etc that can then be implemented in further devices.

I understand people not caring for the Apple Watch at the moment. It's probably not designed for you...yet.

Are you surprised by all this negativity? The MacRumors forums have a great history of hating every new device. But besides all the blind hate and rants, there are some valid points of critique. Most people don't know what to do with an Apple Watch, because Apple didn't answer the fundamental question: is the Watch an iPhone accessory, or is it valuable in its own right? This problem has been pointed out by Ben Thompson on http://stratechery.com/2014/apple-watch-asking-saying/

The Keynote didn't do a very good job of answering this question. And they didn't show a lot of future possibilities of the Apple Watch. Instead Apple showed a lot bad usage cases like watching fotos and searching on maps, which is like a millions times better on an iPhone display. Therefore lot's of people dismiss it as redundant and useless device. I hoped that Apple would show more stuff based on glance (information), home kit and apple tv. When future revision overcome gps and battery life shortcomings, there will be a great and well developed ecosystem to support it. So i guess you are right and let's wait and see if future watches will appeal to a broader audience.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Whoa, that's a classic from the old days. When did you graduate, class of 1950? :
Couldn't resist. Don't take that seriously.....although if I'm even close please say so.

Ha. The 1980s might as well be the 1950s now. Certainly Millennials can't see the difference. But all is fair in generational battles. When I was a kid in the 70s and found a penny from 1958 I'd think WOW! this is a really old penny. Of course it predated me so it was. Of course today... what's a penny?